Experts Say Settlement In Gray Case Could Affect Hearing

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Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Associated Press

Credit: AP Photo

A $6.4 million settlement between the city of Baltimore and the family of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died a week after he was critically injured while in police custody, could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray's death out of the city.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the settlement Tuesday, just two days before Judge Barry Williams will decide whether the trials should be moved to a different jurisdiction. Defense attorneys have asked for a change of venue, citing pre-trial publicity and concern that the officers will not receive fair trials if they are tried in Baltimore.

The settlement is expected to be approved Wednesday by the Baltimore Board of Estimates, a body that reviews city payments. The settlement appears to be among the largest settlements in police death cases in recent years, and was reached before the Gray family actually filed a lawsuit.

Although the city said in a statement that the settlement does not resolve any factual disputes, and expressly does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of the city, its police department or any of the officers, experts say the city's willingness to pre-empt a lawsuit could have an effect on the officers' ability to receive a fair trial in Baltimore - an issue Williams will likely decide Thursday.

"Damages would have been paid if the city went to trial and they're willing to settle it. But they tell us it's by no way an admission of fault by the police officers," said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. "There's no doubt that this will figure in to the hearing for change of venue. If I was an attorney for a defendant I'd be revising my motion right now to say the settlement was made to persuade the jury pool that the officers did something wrong."

Douglas Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey Law School, said the settlement is a step in restoring the public's faith in local government and mending the relationship between the citizens of Baltimore and elected officials.

"It's a big step toward a different type of policing," Colbert said, "and a relationship with the community that deters misconduct."

In July, New York City settled for $5.9 million with the family of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being put in a white police officer's chokehold. The city of Chicago settled in 2001 a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of LaTanya Haggerty, a black woman who was shot to death by a police officer who thought her cellphone was a weapon, for $18 million.

But Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said such settlements are damaging for communities and self-serving for governments. By paying off family members, O'Donnell said, cities can prevent real scrutiny of political and social ills that allowed misconduct to occur.

"It's all too easy to take public money and hand it over to people and say, `Well, this is a big aberrational mistake and we're going to make it good,' and it generally absolves the policymakers and the people in power of responsibility, when in fact the mistakes are systemic and reflective of a lack of leadership," he said.

The head of Baltimore's police union condemned the agreement.

"To suggest that there is any reason to settle prior to the adjudication of the pending criminal cases is obscene and without regard to the fiduciary responsibility owed to the taxpaying citizens of the city," Lt. Gene Ryan said in a statement.

All six officers, including Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, are charged with second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter also face a manslaughter charge, while Officer Caesar Goodson faces the most serious charge of all: second-degree "depraved-heart" murder.

City's Payment Would Be Latest In A Series Nationwide

Baltimore's proposed $6.4 million settlement with the parents of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a critical spinal injury in police custody, follows several other million-dollar-plus payouts in recent years involving police deaths. Among them:

ERIC GARNER: New York City reached a $5.9 million settlement in July with the family of Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being put in a white police officer's chokehold.

LaTANYA HAGGERTY: The city of Chicago settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Haggerty's family in 2001 for $18 million. Haggerty, who was black, was shot to death by police when she was a passenger in a car that was chased by police in June 1999. Holding a cellphone, she was shot and killed by officer Serena Daniels. The officer, who is black, said she mistook a shiny object in Haggerty's hand for a weapon.

RICARDO DIAZ-ZEFERINO: The families of Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino and two other men agreed to accept $4.7 million from the city of Gardena, California. Diaz-Zeferino's death in June 2013 occurred after the three were mistaken for robbery suspects and three officers opened fire. Diaz-Zeferino's family received $2.8 million in February. Eutiquio Acevedo Mendez, who was wounded, received $1.7 million. The third man, who was unharmed, received $200,000. Diaz-Zeferino was Latino.

JONATHAN FERRELL: His family agreed to a $2.25 million settlement with the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, after a white police officer fatally shot their unarmed, black son in September 2013.

JORGE AZUCENA: The mother of a man who died of an asthma attack while in the custody of Los Angeles police received a $1.35 million settlement in March. Jorge Azucena, 26, died about 40 minutes after he was taken into custody after running a red light in South Los Angeles in September 2013.

MICHAEL BROWN: A federal wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Brown's parents over his fatal shooting by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer won't go to trial for at least another year. Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden are suing the city of Ferguson, its former police chief and the white ex-officer, Darren Wilson, who killed the 18-year-old Brown in August 2014. Brown was African-American.

TAMIR RICE: A federal judge in June delayed part of a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a 12-year-old black boy fatally shot by two white Cleveland police officers, citing concern for the officers' rights against self-incrimination as a criminal investigation proceeded. Tamir Rice had an airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets when an officer shot him outside a recreation center last November.